¥ What does it mean to be human? ¥ How does a right understanding of personhood affect decisions on critical life situations? ¥ What implications does a biblical perspective on personhood have for the pastoral ministry of healing and hope? In answering these questions, Ray S. Anderson focused on the person as determined by and sustained by the creative power of God. He explored the the implications of a biblical understanding of personhood for such critical issues as human sexuality, family relationships, abortion, and death. He broke new ground in relating pastoral care and counseling to contemporary issues which challenge Christians and their understanding of the meaning of human life.

A study of human beings – our origins, status, beginnings and endings. It asks what is entailed in being human?

Being Human examines the complex connections among conceptions of human nature, attitudes toward non-human nature, and ethics. Anna Peterson proposes an "ethical anthropology" that examines how ideas of nature and humanity are bound together in ways that shape the very foundations of cultures. Peterson discusses mainstream Western understandings of what it means to be human, as well as alternatives to these perspectives, and suggests that the construction of a compelling, coherent environmental ethics will revise our ideas not only about nature but also about what it means to be human.

Migrant experiences accentuate general aspects of the human condition. Therefore, this volume explores migrant’s movements not only as geographical movements from here to there but also as movements that constitute an embodied, cognitive, and existential experience of living “in between” or on the “borderlands” between differently figured life-worlds. Focusing on memories, nostalgia, the here-and-now social experiences of daily living, and the hopes and dreams for the future, the volume demonstrates how all interact in migrants’ and refugees’ experience of identity and quest for well-being.

In this thought-provoking book, psychologist Jerome Kagan urges readers to sally forth from their usual comfort zones. He ponders a series of important nodes of debate while challenging us to examine what we know and why we know it. Most critically he presents an elegant argument for functions of mind that cannot be replaced with sentences about brains while acknowledging that mind emerges from brain activity. Kagan relies on the evidence to argue that thoughts and emotions are distinct from their biological and genetic bases. In separate chapters he deals with the meaning of words, kinds of knowing, the powerful influence of social class, the functions of education, emotion, morality, and other issues. And without fail he sheds light on these ideas while remaining honest to their complexity. Thoughtful and eloquent, Kagan’s On Being Human places him firmly in the tradition of Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne, whose appealing blend of intellectual insight, personal storytelling, and careful judgment has attracted readers for centuries.

This book covers a wide range of topics: psychology and psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and the psychological insights we find in ancient texts. To be fully inclusive in tackling the question of what it means to be human we need to address spiritual answers as well as scientific answers. So here is a book which includes Jesus of Nazareth as well as Freud, Paul of Tarsus as well as Jung, and suggests that in order to answer the question, what it means to be human, it is important not to exclude the spiritual, or to assume that when we die that is the end of us. Can we see Freud's id, ego, and super-ego as a parallel with the Bible's body, soul and spirit? Dare we think about left and right brain strengths in the same context as the fruit of the spirit? So many questions. In fact this book aims to provoke questions far more than to provide answers, though the source for these answers is firmly promoted.

There is a difference between that which is and that which is to be. Anthropologically: there is a way I am, and the way I am to be, or not to be. How are we to explain this? This book presents the argument that human nature is both complex and complicated in at least two specific ways--ontologically and ethically. In our being we are indisputably good, dignified, worthy, important, or even noble. But in our morality we are ambivalent--capable of both good and evil, the humane and the inhumane. In his paramount work Jan Amos Comenius expresses the goal of his lifelong endeavor: "to help keep man from falling into a non-man" (Pampaedia). If human beings are to become what they ought to be, they need to be educated towards humanity, says Comenius. But the fundamental question is, what is a human being? And what ought one to be? "Salt ought to be salty. A river ought to be clear. A knife ought to be sharp. But what ought a person to be?" What is the essence of our humanity? And how can that be cultivated or educated? This book presents Comenius's answers to these questions.

Noted psychologist Jacquelyn Small helps us break the cycle of addictive behavior, destructive relationships and self-harm by teaching that we are not human beings learning to be spiritual, we are spiritual beings learning to be human. Jacquelyn Small's 12 Principles of Wholeness, developed in her 30-year clinical practice, provide a one-year process of psychospiritual "inner work." Blending ancient wisdom and modern science, this process has led client after client to the personal transformation of addictive living that precedes spiritual awakening. The readings, exercises and guided imageries in this book will help you access blocked emotions and modify the basic patterns buried within you that are holding unwanted behaviors in place. You will learn how to: Release stuck emotions through "inner work" designed to heal your past. Identify pseudo-personalities that masquerade as your true self. Create the inner space required for a spiritual awakening to occur naturally.

This book is a collection of the life stories of ten fantastic human beings from different parts of the world and different backgrounds. It aims not to impart information, which is easily available in this Internet era, but to ignite inspiration that could stay for a lifetim. It may not soothe young readers to sleep, but it may awaken them to the profound real world more amazing than fiction. It will not give ready-made answers to life’s questions; but it will intrigue young readers with life stories of a few humans, nudge them with compelling questions, and help them evolve their own human consciousness. Here is a book which one can come back to again and again, and always get something new out of it. Here is a book that helps to seek and know the joy of wondering about life. Here is a book that is not about super-humans, but about realizing that BEING HUMAN IS SUPER.

Originally published: The I. New Haven: Yale University Press, c1985.